6th Annual King Edward Medical College Retreat

This past weekend (April 29-May 1) I had the pleasure of covering the 6th annual retreat/convention of the King Edward Medical College Alumni Association of North America (KEMCAANA). The location was Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, New York City.

Besides always being the hub of activity, this weekend was also the taping of TLC's Royal Wedding fashion show and the EIF Revlon Run/Walk NY.Fortunately my hotel room on the 19th floor overlooked Times Square so I could see the start of each of these events, but unfortunately since I was there to cover the convention, I could not go out to photograph either of these events.

Friday night was the Harbor Cruise. A fairly windy night, coupled with a chilly temperature made for a brisk on deck experience. Luckily dinner and music was inside the comfort of the main cabin so the evening was enjoyable overall.

Since the boat stayed more toward the center of the channel, photography was a bit challenging. Keeping light on the subjects while also keeping visible the distant shore lights was difficult. I will experiment with a portable constant light solution to see if that works better in such situations.

Below is a slideshow of the pictures from the cruise.

Saturday night was the formal banquet and people were more dressed up. While I tried to do as much posed photography as possible, most people were not aware they could ask for their pictures to be taken. After the fact people came up to me and expressed regret at not knowing. One couple did ask me to do an impromptu sitting and you will see multiple sequential shots of them in the slideshow below. Hopefully if I am invited next year people will have advance knowledge and grab me to get snapped. Regardless I think I captured some nice moments.

The musical program was great and lasted past midnight, but I did not stay till the end as I had been up since 6am and midnight was my limit. I heard from the president's wife that they were looking for me to have pictures taken with the artists, so I regret that missed opportunity.

All in all this was a good experience and something I'd like to do again. However, next time I cover such an event, I will have to pace it better so I don't exhaust myself.